The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for positioning bagged products on a conveyor, and in particular, to a conveyor apparatus for collating bagged products and thereby aiding in the transfer of the bagged products into shipping containers.
In order to expedite the packing of individually bagged products, such as potato chips, into shipping containers, it is desirable to have the bagged products in a vertically oriented array. The vertical orienting of bagged products, known in the art as collating, allows for efficient transition of the bagged product into shipping containers.
Formerly, the process of gathering the bagged products from conveyors and transferring them into shipping containers was a tedious and time-consuming task. The bagged products were randomly spaced and horizontally positioned on the conveyor, making it difficult to transfer the individually bagged products from the conveyor into shipping containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,906 issued Nov. 2, 1982 to David M. Fallas, herein incorporated by reference, discloses a device that eliminates the difficult task of manually gathering and arranging the product bags on the conveyor for transfer into the shipping containers. However, the device was expensive and complicated. More particularly, in this device, the bags will normally be received one after the other in horizontal disposition with the bottom of each bag leading the way. Each bag will then be pivoted around its bottom and deposited on a belt which moves stepwise. The first bag in each linear array will lie on the belt with the top of the bag facing downstream toward an end plate or ramp which is inclined away from the top of the bag. With each successive step of the belt, another bag will be deposited on the belt such that it will rest on the next preceding bag in a leaning position. When a complete array has been so deposited, the belt will then advance the entire array against the end plate or ramp such that all of the bags in the array are either inclined or vertical, but preferably inclined. This array is then pushed or otherwise moved on to a trap door of a loading station where it is preferably kept in its linear array form. This sequence of events is repeated until enough arrays are present at the loading station to supply all of the rows needed in a shipping box or similar container. If the arrays are still inclined at this point, they are first pushed into a vertical position and then deposited in the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,932 issued Mar. 5, 1996 to William B. Dyess improves on the Fallas patent. However, this device is also unnecessarily expensive and complicated and takes up too much floor space.
The problems that the present application addresses that were not solved by earlier devices are: 1) minimizing the floor space needed by the conveyor system; 2) adjusting the spacing of incoming product so that the conveyors may run continuously, rather than in a stepwise fashion, thus increasing performance; and 3) keeping the product bags flat as long as possible, to avoid product settling. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be made clear to one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the remainder of the application.
Apparatus for collating products into arrays, comprising:
(a) an upper conveyor receiving the products at random intervals, the upper conveyor moving in a first direction, the upper conveyor establishing a first gap thereon between each product and a second gap thereon to create groups of products, the upper conveyor having a nose;
(b) a lower conveyor positioned below the upper conveyor and receiving the products from the upper conveyor, the lower conveyor moving in a second direction substantially opposed to the first direction; and
(c) a reverse shingling plate associated with the upper conveyor at the nose thereof and blocking product movement beyond the nose, whereby product encountering the reverse shingling plate drops onto the lower conveyor.
The Pouch Reverse Shingling system collates and separates product for delivery to other equipment. This method of handling product permits higher production rates with reduced product settling and damage.
The system consists of the following components. For convenience, one instance of each component is described, however, multiple instances of components are within the scope of this patent.
Upper Conveyor:
The Upper Conveyor""s main purpose is to assist in controlling the gap between consecutive pouches. The Upper Conveyor creates these gaps by changing its discharge position and the product speed. The belt speed is based on the pouch feed rate from the Random Infeed Conveyor. The discharge position varies within a designed window based on where a pouch should be placed on the Reverse Conveyor.
There are two different gaps that are generated on the Upper Conveyor. The first gap is created from the Upper Conveyor running relatively faster than the Random Infeed Conveyor. This gap allows the pouches to be registered and provide the time needed to position the Reverse Conveyor in the proper position to receive the next pouch. The second gap provides the necessary time for the cross-pusher to remove a completed row off the Reverse Shingling Conveyor before the next pouch enters the cross-pusher area. Increasing the Upper Conveyor length between the last bag in a row and the next row""s first bag creates the second gap. The next step in the collating process is the Reverse Shingling Plate.
Applicant has used the Upper Conveyor in other apparatus in the past, but Applicant believes that such use does not bar patentability of the present invention.
Upper Conveyor Sensor:
The Upper Conveyor Sensor registers and establishes a tracking start point for product on the Upper Conveyor. This sensor is also used to count the number of products delivered to the Lower Conveyor.
Reverse Shingling Plate:
The Reverse Shingling Plate provides a deflection point for the product to transfer from the Upper Conveyor to the Lower Conveyor. The program that allows the Reverse Shingling Plate to change position is designed to provide a consistent transfer for each pouch. This removes the uncertainty that a pouch will not be positioned correctly on the Lower Conveyor based on the transfer from the Upper Conveyor to the Lower Conveyor.
Lower Conveyor:
The Lower Conveyor completes the inline collating process by shingling product into a group that is transferred by the Cross Pusher Plate to the Loader Deck. The Lower Conveyor creates a product group by reversing individual product""s direction of travel and allowing consecutive products to overlap.
Cross Pusher Plate:
The Cross Pusher Plate transfers the product groups off the Lower Conveyor and on to the Loader Deck. The Cross Pusher Plate pivots up to pass over product when returning.
Loader Deck:
The Loader Deck accumulates the rows of product.
Divider Plate:
A slot in the Loader Deck allowing a divider to be inserted between rows of product.
Loader Plate:
The Loader Plate transfers the product groups from the Loader Deck to the machine""s discharge station.
Operation Summary:
Product is transported horizontally on the Random Infeed Conveyor (not shown) to the Upper Conveyor. Product may be spaced irregularly, however, a minimum gap between products must be maintained. The Upper Conveyor may run at a higher rate than the Random Infeed Conveyor to increase the gap between products.
Product is transferred to the Upper Conveyor. A sensor registers the product position on the Upper Conveyor. The position of the product is tracked relative to conveyor travel.
The product is then deflected by the Reverse Shingling Plate and transferred to the Lower Conveyor. Its direction of travel will be reversed and it will overlap onto product waiting on the Lower Conveyor. Operation continues in this manner until the desired number of products is accumulated on the Lower Conveyor. Products are counted using the Upper Conveyor Sensor.
Two actions happen once a group of products is complete. The Upper Conveyor returns to its start position by increasing its length and the Cross Pusher Plate transfers the product group from the Lower Conveyor to the Loader Deck. After the row is fully on the Loader Deck the Cross-Pusher Plate pivots up, clearing the height of the product and returns to its start position.
Rows of product are accumulated on the loader deck. Once the desired number of rows is accumulated, the Loader Plate pushes them into the machine""s discharge station.
A principal object and advantage of the present invention is that it minimizes the floor space needed by the conveyor system by having the Lower Conveyor under and running in a direction opposite to that of the Upper Conveyor.
Another object and advantage of the present invention is that it reverses the orientation of the product so that the product will be put into containers bottom first, without the need for a mechanism that grips and rotates the product.
Another object and advantage of the present invention is that it adjusts the spacing of incoming products so that the conveyors can run continuously, rather than in a stepwise fashion, thus increasing performance.
Another object and advantage of the present invention is that it keeps the products flat as long as possible before being put into containers, thereby avoiding product settling within its containers.